WASHINGTON — Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is likely next year to face the first real election battle of his 30-year Senate career, lashed out against media reports suggesting that his wife’s lucrative positions on the boards of four health-care companies could be inappropriate.

“It’s offensive to my wife that you’d be even talking about it,” Dodd complained on “Fox News Sunday” yesterday.

Dodd, who is a key player in President Obama’s health-care reform efforts, said there is “no reason” for his wife to step down and claimed she is a victim of sexism.

“We don’t hear these questions being raised about the male spouses of female senators,” Dodd said.

Jackie Clegg Dodd earned more than $344,000 in salary and options last year, according to publicly available documents.

Sen. Dodd said the couple had previously hired an ethics lawyer “to make sure that these boards she serves on would in no way pose any kind of conflict whatsoever with my job in the Senate.”